Every piece of evidence we have so far on the government shutdown shows the public is blaming Republicans most of all for the standoff. On Monday, an ABC poll showed 71 percent fault the GOP; 61 percent fault Congressional Democrats; 51 percent fault President Obama.

Yes, Democrats look bad. Yes, Obama is probably doing himself no favors by saying he won’t negotiate when the public wants politicians in Washington to work together.

But Republicans look considerably worse. And for the Right, the Republican Party is the only game in town.

This is what my fellow conservatives who are acting as the enablers for irresponsible GOP politicians seem not to understand. They like this fight, because they think they’re helping to hold the line on ObamaCare and government spending. They think that they’re supported by a vast silent majority of Americans who dislike what they dislike and want what they want.

I dislike what they dislike. I want what they want. But I fear they are very, very wrong about the existence of this silent majority, and that their misperception is leading them to do significant damage to the already damaged Republican “brand.” (Forgive me for making use of that horribly overused term, but it’s the only one that fits.)

The belief that the public is with them is based on two data points: First, twice as many people say they’re conservative as say they are liberal. And second, ObamaCare is viewed unfavorably by a majority of the American people.

Both are true.

But it has been true for more than 20 years that Americans are twice as likely to call themselves conservative — and in that time Republicans have lost the popular vote in five out of six national elections. The statistic tells us little about how Americans vote or what they vote for.

And it is true that, according to Real Clear Politics, Americans disapprove of ObamaCare, 51 percent to 40 percent. It is unpopular. But it is not wildly, devastatingly unpopular — though given the fact that it is now rolling out and appears to be as incompetently executed as it was badly conceived, it may yet become so.

If ObamaCare had been as unpopular as conservatives believed, their plan for the shutdown — that there would be a public uprising to force Democratic senators in close races in 2014 to defund it — would’ve worked. It didn’t. Not a single senator budged.

Their tactic failed, and now what they are left with is House Speaker John Boehner basically begging the president of the United States to negotiate with him.

One thing we know for sure is that it’s not an equal fight, this fight between a man who received 65 million votes nationwide and a man who received 246,000 votes in one congressional district in Ohio.

Meanwhile, Boehner is basically the face of the US Congress in the eyes of the public. John Boehner is also the effective head of the Republican Party. And the US Congress is viewed favorably by . . . 11 percent of Americans.

Eleven percent.

When I interact with these conservatives, they say they don’t care about the GOP; what they care about are conservative ideas.

They’re right not to assign special glory or power to a political organization and to hold ideas above party. But here’s the condundrum: There is only one electoral vehicle for conservative ideas in the United States — the Republican Party.

It’s one thing to refuse to waste your time buffing and polishing the vehicle so that it looks nice and pretty; that’s what political hacks do, and ideologues have every right to disdain such frippery.

But if, in the guise of making the vehicle function better, you muck up the engine, smash the windshield, put the wrong tires on it and pour antifreeze in the gas tank, you are impeding its forward movement. You’re ruining it, not repairing it.

It may not have been a very good vehicle in the first place, and you may think it couldn’t drive worse, but oh man, could it ever. And it’s the only one you’ve got.

What's Your Take?

Thank you. Thank you, Sir, for speaking some common sense in the midst of all this Alamo-stance fanaticism. I wish that more Republicans - especially those who identify as part of the Tea Party - could read and understand what you're getting across here. The future of the GOP depends upon it.

You want to hear something interesting - I wonder if anyone else can relate. I live in the Northern VA suburbs and on occasion, I meet someone new and they directly or indirectly voice their political views. Of course, I try to stay away from these discussions due to the subjective nature of politics in general. What I've found is that 4 out of 5 of the people that passionately relate to views of the republican party tend to be white Americans over the age of 50. If this is the case throughout the country, where is the sense of urgency or concern that the demographic most supportive of right-leaning principles will eventually die out. If I felt left-leaning principles would cause the demise of this great nation, would it not be in my best interest to focus on passing my ideological beliefs to a younger, more diverse group of teenagers and adults?

BTW, I'm not a latte-sipping leftist. I drink coffee from 7 eleven and grew up in a catholic household where voting republican was a way of passage.

I used to be a Republican, but as a math teacher, I have been
much maligned by my old party. As a
lifetime learner, I also believe in climate change which is unwisely ignored by
my old party. I have a daughter, college
graduate with a 3.87 GPA in biology, who cannot work because of an old surgery
that went bad (missing 5 ligaments in right ankle) and no insurance to fix
it.This condition has now created
complex region pain syndrome 2 which is a lifetime, chronic pain, condition. My
hope is for the new “Under 40 Caucus” composed of both parties that seem to be
more interested in long term goals then a short term election cycle. I did not leave the party. I am still a “conservative”
and the party has left me. When I vote it is between tweedle dee and tweedle
dum.

Yep the right's committing suicide all right! THEY are the ones shutting down jellystone national park (or is it yellowstone, eh boo boo?!) Just ignore the fact that the REPUBLICAN arizona Governor was denied the right to keep it open when she tried! REPUBLICANS are the ones who REFUSE families of fallen soldeirs their pay because Democraps LOVE soldiers and wars just ask the hippies of the 60s! Republicans are shutting down private NON-GOVENMENT-FUNDED parks and democraps are doing everything they can to keep them open! Republcians shut down the world war 2 memorial and Obama is doing everything in his Messianic power to keep it open but Obama darn it even messiahs fail sometimes! Why let a little inconconsequential thing like FACTS get in the way!?

" But I fear they are very, very wrong about the existence of this silent majority," Podhoretz doesn't leave the Beltway. He doesn't hear the outrage in the coffee shops and meeting places outside the Left and Right coasts. It doesn't take rocket science to see old men in wheelchairs being mistreated by their government, that people are outraged that families can't travel to retrieve the remains of the dead from Afghanistan. We've had enough of Barack Insane Obama and his communist minions. Podhoretz is a NEO Conservative that never was in line with Reaganism. Podhoretz's father and other disaffected Democrats latched on to the Republicans and created NEO conservatism. The silent majority wants a complete return to the Constitutional principle and governance. That is our "red line" and we are at it right now. If we don't fight now, then when? If not here, then where?

Checks and Balances were created for a reason. This whole episode is just the check and balance thermostat triggering. Unfortunately the check and balance system never assumed to be dealing with both sides being stubborn children fusing to talk. It was designed to trigger negotiations to occur. The Constitution clearly states that it is the House that controls the purse strings. And thus the republicans control what to fund and what not to fund. The senate and president are overstepping their authority by making funding demands. And their refusal to negotiate is trying to fundamentally change the nation and in a dangerous way. The nation would change to a true democracy, majority rule standpoint, and that is VERY dangerous to the future of the nation. And very narrow minded of the democratic party, especially if the day comes where they find themselves in the minority. .... Though our system of government has been damaged already by making the senate filled by not by state congresses pick, but by popular vote. Had the original system been in place, republicans would control both the house and senate and this problem would of never made it to a national level to begin with.

Republicans 71%??? LOL, and that is with 95% of the MEDIA siding with Obama & the Democrats. Makes you wonder John, how would the GOP fair without the MEDIA out of control biased spin? What amazes me is how bad the OBAMACRATS are doing with the MEDIA on their side!!!

John Podhoretz--
you're coming across as tone-deaf and are promoting the same
timid, chickencrap, cowering-before-the-corrupt-media behavior that has corroded the GOP. The People WANT the
GOP to hold the line here. For the first time in a very long time, the
GOP is not toadying up to leftist plutocrat elitists and behaving like
the same.

They need to stop talking about the GOP and Republican brands. The neo-GOP is neither. Also, they need to stop lying about "conservative" being a neo-GOP thing. The Democratic Party is a big tent and there are people advocating every legitimately conservative principle you can name. Heck there are even a few anarchists in there, but nothing like the anarchism of the Tea Party, which has to be compared with the Russian anarchists who opposed the Czar. Funny comparison, because in spite of the police state the anarchists helped create, the Czar was finally destroyed by the Bolsheviks, who used the same kind of party discipline as Boehner is attempting to apply in America. Pretty safe to predict it won't work here.

As a lifelong Republican, I identified more closely with Ross Perot / Pat Buchanan during the '90s, primarily due to Fair Trade issues. Although my opinions haven't changed much, the GOP that I used to support has. I certainly don't consider myself to be a "liberal," but the GOP is no longer a palatable alternative.

If Republicans play the same game as they have for the past 20 years -- capitulate and agree to bills that are bringing this country to the brink of bankruptcy (as Podhoretz suggests), nothing will change. The actual polling numbers indicate that Republicans are faring significantly better this shut down era than they did back in 1996. Low information voters are beginning to realize that they were lied to with Obamacare. The tide is certainly changing. Hold the line!

The american people are blaming Republicans because the Average American Adult are dumber than the average human. 7 Trillion in Obamas first term in office when Dems had both the senate and the house. The worlds laughing at us, wake up uninformed people, wake up.

And this piece is exactly why Republicans did not beat Obama last election. You favor surrender and the French Republican strategy which does not win you a single Obama voter, and drives the base into staying HOME. You elitists are so concerned that the President might call you names and the media might be mean to you that you are willing to just cave on EVERYTHING. Romney lost because he would not attack Obama. He famously said what a nice guy he was etc. Guess what we the people are sick and tired of this roll over and play dead Washington insider crap. We want some fight, we need to win the argument. You can't win the argument if you never start it in the first place. So LEAD, FOLLOW OR GET THE HELL OUT OF THE WAY.

Love how you guys act like Obamacare is so awesome, here are some reviews:

Carole Pratt Ri DeCarlo: “I have had my own private policy that I will not be able to afford to keep once the rates triple per the letter I received from Humana. I’m not eligible for ‘affordable’ coverage on the exchange, don’t qualify for subsidy. I am living, documented proof this is system will not work for me. No propaganda here.”

Cheryll Quail Feather Hart: “Where the heck is the AFFORDABLE part of this???? $17, 000.00 per YEAR to insure my family of 4???? And no help from subsidies because my work offers ME and, yes, only ME, coverage????”

Irene Waldron: “My daughter must pay $1,272 a year for an Obamcare policy with a $5,000-a-year deductible plan, or be hounded by the IRS to pay the penalty. She does not have an extra $200 a year, let alone $1,272. What an incredible scam. Obama lied.

Sha Sha Corbley: “Sticker shock is a huge understatement. We currently pay $1,158 PER MONTH for a personal policy. Closest choice to what we have now but not as good being offered in 2014, will cost us $1,937 PER MONTH, and we don’t qualify for any subsidy.”

About 16% of those who 'don't like Obamacare' wanted a single-payer option, so they are not against what the Affordable Care Act is trying to achieve. That said, math puts real opposition at about 35%. Tell me why again it has anything to do with shutting down the government or sending the country into an economic tailspin and bringing down other economies with it? Logic is not a strong suit of the Tea Party, and Boehner is far more concerned with his position as Speaker than he is with the country.

You're full of it Podheretz. The Republicans are finally standing up to the big government, commerce destroying, freedom destroying leftists who are running our country down the toilet while the moron's of the world who never lift a finger to help themselves are chomping at the bit for more free stuff paid for by the strivers and achievers.

The idle musings of one of the inane bandwagoners who help cheerlead the government to its current impasse. *wheeee* At least he realizes the "Tea Partiers" don't care about the Republican Party; he leaves out that many of them are secessionists or "South will rise again" type guys, but hey, I think he gets the idea. The Boehner vs Obama vote numbers is a nice stat, very good point. How about the absurdity of Kentucky or Alabama representatives backed by miniscule population groups effectively standing in the way of NY and CA governance?

I have had to roll my eyes at this sort of alter reality that some of these pundits are living in, I recently read an op-ed from newt Gingrich that parroted a lot of what this guys is saying. That "Obamacare" is unpopular, that Obama is unreasonable. heck, the rollout of the AHCA is, like, 3 days old! LOL. very little of what I just read above actually holds a lot of water... it's a conservative alter-reality. The reality is that conservatism is NOT the way of the land, that MODERATE-ism is actually the game in town. Within that there may be some with conservative leanings, some with more liberal, but mainly it is down the middle which is why Republicans should be even more concerned. Because, if that vast moderate population is leaning more and more and more left then the right is in a heap of hurt in the coming years and decades. People recoil from you when you have disdain for them. So, hispanics, blacks, poor people, etc - all folks who are juuust starting to feel their voting power for the first time - are relating to the party that actually looks out for their best interest. This op-ed opinion above is just so much bunk. It's not an opinion as much as it is an agenda. FAIL.

How about talking to people who are benefiting from the Patients Rights and Affordable Care Act known as Obamacare. Having found a plan that is one third of what I was paying with a wide range of benefits I can say personally this law helps life a huge burden lifted off the shoulders of many Americans. That you and so many Republicans hope it fails shows how despicable Republicans are.

@Jason Prather Awesome!! Keep up the good work, Jason. It's God's work you do. What a beautiful day it is when republicans have to cheat, lie, disenfranchise, gerrymander just to win in conservative districts. People like you, Jason, are helping to keep this going.

@Palm Beach Sun I think you have laid out in the sun a little too long. I guess the 17 Trillion dollar deficit doesn't mean anything to you nor does the $95 Trillion in unfunded liabilities. You should be thanking the Tea Party for paying attention to this while you have been out sunbathing!

@GERRY DOUGHERTY Honestly, the Republicans hold all the cards. This becomes more and more apparent with each day. Obama's nasty little plan to make everybody miserable and blame the Republicans is backfiring. Even many Democrats are starting to realize just how inept and ego-maniacal he is. GOP holds the line and Obama will capitulate. He really has no choice. He's painted himself into a corner and his ego is in a catch 22

@opaque/5e7e3132-3136-11e3-8671-000bcdcb471e Yes, expenditures went up. I wonder if you heard about the barely averted economic crash and the resultant Great Recession which required a huge injection of $$$ from the Federal government, the so-called "stimulus" boost? Which was required to fix the mess the disastrous Bush presidency (go crazy on the Defence budget conducting unnecessary wars while slashing taxes...absolutely insane ! Yet the Republicans never expressed any concern about the gross deficits or the mushrooming national debt at that time.) Americans are not dumb. However, the existance of the TeaParty does demonstrate that about 10% of the population has no brains.

@Cheryl Pryor Another prime example of Republican delusion. Romney attacked Obama at every turn -- in person, in print, and through the airwaves. He was just a sucky candidate, admit it. And the more you "fight" progressive reforms such as marriage equality, marijuana decriminalization, sensible immigration policy, right to choose, etc. the more moderates and independents you send straight into the arms of the Democratic party. Get on the right side of history or you'll be left behind as the backwards troglodyte you appear to be.

Barbara Nicole Bambi Foozeball: "My night sweats were considered a preexisting conditioning that prevented me from getting insurance at any cost. With the federal insurance exchange I'll finally have coverage."

Cletus Devon Baker Smith: "After getting a cancer diagnosis, my insurance company cancelled my policy. My church offered to hold a bake sale to cover the cost my care but realized they'd have to sell four million dozen cupcakes to see me through my chemotherapy. Thanks Obamacare!"

A. Pismo Clam: "As a man in my twenties, I thought I was invincible until a motorcycle accident cost me my left leg. The hospital has sicced the bill collectors on me but I'll never get out of debt. I have no money to pay for orthotics or therapy so I have to hop around on my remaining good leg. Guess I was as invincible as I thought and wish Obamacare was available earlier".

LeQuaQua Shaneequa Smith: "My ACA insurance plan was slightly more expensive than the private insurance I had, but it has no caps, can't be arbitrarily cancelled and allows me cover my young adult children until they are 26. The difference is well worth it. God bless Obamacare."

@opaque/f2056efc-311d-11e3-b7bb-000bcdca4d7a The disconnect in tone from one of your posts to another sounds suspiciously like bipolar disorder. As a Reagan Republican myself, I adhere to the credo of "together we stand." To equate members of one's own party with "Jihadists" is essentially taking a leaf from the democrats' playbook and turning it against oneself. We have enough enemies out there without your adding to their numbers-- especially when you do it in the guise of Reagan Republicanism.

@yankinmadrid And math is obviously not your forte, since you leave out so many other variables in your "calculations." For one thing, the "real opposition" you so speciously cite is against Obamacare as it currently exists; therefore, the 16% you craftily pare away from the total, while not indicative of lack of support for the IDEALS behind the current law, do nonetheless represent dissatisfaction with its present incarnation. Honest math would add 16% to 35% and get 51%. But maybe that's not the way they do math in Madrid?.

@Mark Shrader freedom to enslave, freedom to peep into bedrooms, freedom to teach that slavery never happened (thanks, rick "the edukashin guvnur" perry. thank goodness the tar pits are big enough to hold all of y'all.

@golfer-in-chief This type of response is one of the biggest problems of the Republican Party. You never hear far left liberal Democrats call moderate Democrats DINO's. They all just get along nicely, finding common ground within their party.
I, too, was a lifelong Republican...until I recently switched to
Independent due to the in-fighting caused by the extreme views of the
Tea Party. Instead of agreeing there is room for different degrees of
conservatism, the TP'ers stoop to name calling and demagoguery if fellow
Republicans aren't far right enough of the political spectrum. If the
GOP don't get their house in order soon, there is a real possibility the
Dems will continue to hold the White House for many, many years. God
help us if that's the case.

@GERRY DOUGHERTY@Palm Beach Sun The national DEBT is around $17 trillion, of which around $12 trillion is held by the public (47% by foreign investors). Between 200 and 2009 under the disaster called "the Bush/Chaney" presidency, the debt went up from $5.6 trillion to $12trillion. Under Obama, during the past 5 years in order to repair the economic damage ("Great Recessation") done by the Bush cabal, he debt has gone up. The budget DEFICIT, however has gone DOWN. The solution to the unbridled growth in the debt will require a significant cut in the WAR budget, reductions in Medicare benefits, and an INCREASE in taxes for the very rich, who have NOT been paying their fair share for 2 decades. Cutting and trimming will NEVER correct the deficits, as they continue to grow due to the aging baby boomers. FACT. TAXES must go up. Period. Like it or LUMP it.

@GERRY DOUGHERTY @Palm Beach SunThis year the Congressional Budget Office has stated that the federal deficit is the lowest it's been in 5 years and expects it to be $642 billion, down from $1.087 trillion in 2012. That's the lowest it's been in five years. But, since this reality flies in the face of what rightwingers need to tell their minions, it not only can NEVER be mentioned, on the contrary, rightwingers pretend the deficit is getting WORSE!

The fact that the deficit was NEVER mentioned by any rightwinger from 2001-2009, while Bush and the GOP were squandering the largest Treasury SURPLUS in US history that Clinton handed to Bush but ONLY when a Democrat is in the White House do deficits EVER get mentioned by the fiscally reckless conservatives.

This self-evident farce of rightwingers pretending to care "deeply" about "The Deficit" could not be illustrated clearer than you claiming OTHERS don't care about the deficit, when you yourself have zero interest in the fact that it has declined $1.087 trillion and will continue to decline by $4 trillion by 2016.

@dalancroft@Cheryl Pryor@dalancroft@Cheryl Pryor Obama's campaign was one of pure mean-spiritedness and spite...I can believe how you blind liberal lemmings could somehow see it being the other way around...Whether you like his political views or not, Romney was and is a true gentleman

@dalancroft Since you are so good at hurling invective, the "troglodyte" here appears to be you. Perhaps "proglodyte" would be a more fitting term for people such as yourself who can only denigrate the messenger when they disagree with the message. The democrat party seems to pride itself on this kind of juvenile response. Oh, and just in case you missed it, Romney had a sterling opportunity to ding Obama on the unfolding Benghazi scandal but he generously chose not to do so. That's an example, I guess, of his "attack(ing) Obama at every turn." Anyway, it's good to know you're "on the right side of history"-- even if it's Revisionist History.

@Roger McAllister now you're being ridiculous. that's like adding votes for communist and socialist workers candidates to romney's tally to prove he was closer to beating obama than the 'liberal media' says.

@jay hein and Luther -- I would like to insult your "arguments" by calling them something cozy-sounding like "specious," but they are so blatantly and obviously composed of horshit and other fecal matter, that I have to put down the thesaurus and simply smile sadly at the level of self-effacing dishonesty to which some unconditional Obama apologists will sink.